Tonight's Movie: Super-Sleuth (1937) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

The RKO comedy SUPER-SLEUTH (1937) was recently released on DVD by the Warner Archive.

SUPER-SLEUTH is a minor film which stars Jack Oakie as a dimwitted movie star and Ann Sothern as his long-suffering studio assistant.

Bill Martin (Oakie) plays a movie detective and thinks he can also solve a crime in real life. As Bill continues to make mistakes in his "investigation" and miss the obvious -- the audience knows very early on that Professor Herman (Eduardo Ciannelli) is the bad guy -- it's up to Mary (Sothern) to keep Bill out of trouble.

There is so little substance to the story that it almost defies description. The best things about the movie are Sothern, who is quite lovely, and the Hollywood setting. There's some fun stock footage of Hollywood, including the Methodist Church which still stands today at Hollywood and Franklin, and watching a film company working on location is also amusing for a classic film fan.

This being RKO, there are some lovely Art Deco sets seen briefly. And that's about all that can be said for this very long 70 minutes. RKO made many delightful "B" movies in the '30s, includes a number starring Sothern, but unfortunately this isn't one of them.

The supporting cast includes Edgar Kennedy, Willie Best, Joan Woodbury, Paul Guilfoyle, Alan Bruce, and Richard Lane.

SUPER-SLEUTH was directed by Benjamin Stoloff. It was filmed in black and white by Joseph H. August.

The DVD has a good print and sound.  There are no extras.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD. Warner Archive releases are MOD (manufactured on demand) and may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection at the WBShop or from any online retailers where DVDs and Blu-rays are sold.